Remember way back when it was alleged that Obama was receiving illegal foreign donations?
Well, the wheels of justice grind slow:
Grammy-winning rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michel of the Fugees was sentenced on Thursday to 14 years in prison for a case in which he was convicted of illegally funneling millions of dollars in foreign contributions to former President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign.
Michel, 52, declined to address the court before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced him.
In April 2023, a federal jury convicted Michel of 10 counts, including conspiracy and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. The trial in Washington, D.C., included testimony from actor Leonardo DiCaprio and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Justice Department prosecutors said federal sentencing guidelines recommended a life sentence for Michel, whom they said “betrayed his country for money” and “lied unapologetically and unrelentingly to carry out his schemes.”
Note he was charged prior to Trump becoming president.
If there were indeed foreign contributions to Obama – and back then I assumed it was probably true that there were such donations – I wouldn’t have imagined that a rapper would be the conduit. I didn’t see many details in the article about how all of this was engineered, but this piece has a bit more information:
US prosecutors said Michel received more than $100m (£80m) from Malaysian billionaire Jho Low that was used in two efforts to influence US politics. He was also convicted of lobbying on behalf of China’s government.
Prosecutors said Michel “betrayed his country for money” and for nearly a decade he “sought to exploit and deceive” various entities in the US government, including the White House and FBI, as well as his own co-conspirators, according to court documents. …
Businessman Mr Low, who funnelled money to Michel, was accused of stealing about $4bn from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund during the infamous 1MDB scandal.
The justice department reached an agreement with the fugitive financier in June 2024 to return more than $100m (£79m) allegedly embezzled from Malaysia’s state-owned wealth fund.
Michel was accused of helping to lobby officials in the first Trump administration to abandon their investigation into Mr Low’s part in it.
His co-defendants got very light sentences or were pardoned, and his lawyer argues that Michel only got such a lengthy sentence because he wanted a trial. I’m inclined to believe that; FARA violations aren’t being prosecuted so harshly anymore unless the behavior of the perps amounts to espionage.
So how much money went into Obama’s campaign?
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While we’re at it, how much of Obama’s margin in 2012 was attributable to his advantage among (1) foreign residents voting unlawfully, (2) disqualified convicts voting unlawfully, (3) people with 2d homes voting a second time (unlawfully), (4) college students voting at school and voting at home (unlawfully), (5) harvested ballots?
IIRC, the Powerline Blogsters were leading the charges detailing, and confirming, that Obama’s campaign pulled in a lot of money under the table using various unethical if not illegal methods.
@ Neo > “FARA violations aren’t being prosecuted so harshly anymore unless the behavior of the perps amounts to espionage”
FARA violations were not being prosecuted at all until the Democrats went after Trump through some of his campaign and administration associates.
If they had left him alone, maybe they wouldn’t be looking at any prosecutions at all.
Having exposed the public to the existence of the FARA laws, perhaps the Democrats are being hoisted on their own Trump-aimed petard.
We need a resurrection(?) reformation(?) of the Tea Party. An army of Davids, free citizens working independently and together, to out all this stuff and lead it to prosecution, when applicable.
Look at what the online personality, Data Republican can achieve on her own. There have been others who have done good work using FOIA requests, etc.
There is a reason both parties colluded to tamp the Tea Party down. Too many in our government fear the citizens taking control. Ironic, since that is what our founders intended.
I’d tend to substitute “perverted” for your “ironic” there Rufus, yet I’d heartily agree with the substance of your remarks.
Trouble is though, our rising at the moment of the Tea Party inception was a splendidly spontaneous expression of a memory we had then of the meaning of American life as we knew it, and that a memory now fading with the intervening years as our lot is dying out quite actually.
Make the little commie pukes watch Gorky Park.
The end where the Hurt character tells the girl he has to go back. That was the deal he made, she could go free but he had to go back.
Lot’s of stuff happened and then came Trump. For those who think it’s stopped think again.
Why he’s considered a good speaker I’ll never know, I don’t think so!
Now compare to Trump’s alleged “felony” re Stormy Daniel’s.